1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for exposing photosensitive material as well as a printer processor, and is applicable to a photographic printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In photofinishing laboratories, there is a demand for high-performance exposing apparatuses (printers) to efficiently deal with large numbers of processing jobs.
To meet such a demand, various exposing apparatuses have been proposed.
For example, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 58-29464 concerns an apparatus in which a photosensitive material cut after exposure is distributed into a plurality of rows. This apparatus has an advantage in that the processor can be made compact, but has the following drawbacks:
(a) A mechanism for distributing the photosensitive material into a plurality of rows (a sorting device) is required. PA1 (b) To obtain high performance, it is necessary to operate the sorting device at high speed, and there is a limit to the effort in obtaining high performance. PA1 (c) To attain high performance, it is necessary to shorten the time of exposure, and it is necessary to reduce the time required in supplying the photosensitive material to an exposure section, the time required in discharging the photosensitive material from the exposure section, and the exposure time.
Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 57-78052 discloses an automatic photographic printer for effecting photographic printing by a single exposure system, wherein a plurality of photosensitive-material supplying magazines are provided in an apparatus body, and the paper to be fed from the plurality of photosensitive-material supplying magazines is made changeable, as required.
In this supplying device, since the photosensitive material can be selectively supplied to one exposure system from the plurality of photosensitive-material supplying magazines, a change in the width of the photosensitive material is readily possible. Since the photosensitive material in one magazine is used up, and the photosensitive material can be supplied from another magazine, it is unnecessary to stop the photographic printer. Hence, there is an advantage in that productivity is high.
However, since the photosensitive material which can be exposed simultaneously is only one row, in order to obtain high performance, it is necessary to speed up the transport of the photosensitive material or shorten the exposure time.
Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 60-107841 discloses an apparatus wherein the photosensitive material is selectively pulled out from a plurality of magazines, is then cut, and is supplied to an exposure section.
This apparatus is not efficient since the plurality of photosensitive materials are not transported in parallel. In FIG. 2 of Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 60-107841, which is illustrated therein as a conventional example, the arrangement is efficient in that one photosensitive material can be transported while the other photosensitive material is being exposed. However, there is a drawback in that, in order to form a greater number of rows or print a wide photosensitive material in a single row, the apparatus becomes large in size.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-347905 discloses a printer wherein projection exposure devices project and expose film images in correspondence with respective exposing portions in a plurality of juxtaposed photosensitive-material transport passages, and the photosensitive materials subsequent to exposures are individually transported and processed in a plurality of rows.
Since this apparatus has a plurality of projection exposure systems, the structure of the exposure section becomes complex, so that there are drawbacks in that the number of component parts used increases, and the cost becomes high.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-347907 discloses a printer wherein projection exposure systems project and expose film images in correspondence with respective exposing portions in a plurality of juxtaposed photosensitive-material transport passages.
Since this apparatus has a plurality of projection exposure systems, the structure of the exposure section becomes complex, so that there are drawbacks in that the number of component parts used increases, and the cost becomes high.